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Josh Sapan was CEO of AMC Networks for 26 years until 2021, where he now has an arrangement to produce independent films for the company.

He is credited with building some of television’s most influential shows, including AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “Better Call Saul”; BBC AMERICA’s “Killing Eve”; IFC’s “Portlandia” and “Documentary Now!”; and SundanceTV’s “Rectify” and “Top of the Lake.” Sapan oversaw the spin-off of AMC Networks from Cablevision in 2011 to become a publicly traded company on NASDAQ.

Sapan serves on the boards of The American Film Institute, The Museum of the Moving Image, New York Public Radio, The New School, The Public Theatre, and People for the American Way. He is the author of “Cable TV” from Putnam Publishing, “The Big Picture: America in Panorama” and “Third Act,” both from Princeton Architectural Press, and “RX,” a book of poetry to be published by Red Hen Press in 2023.

Hope Harley held senior positions at Verizon for over 28 years in Sales and Marketing, Engineering and External Affairs. Her final assignment was as Director of External Affairs in New York City where she was responsible for maintaining Verizon’s relationship with key stakeholders and elected officials as well as providing support for non-profit organizations and managing employee volunteer activities. Ms. Harley is a graduate of the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury.  She received an MBA in Organizational Development from Pace University and a Certificate in Corporate Community Relations from Boston College. Ms. Harley has served on numerous boards including The Harlem School of the Arts, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce and Audubon Partnership for Economic Development.  She is past chair of Hearts and Hammers in the Bronx, an organization renovating homes for senior citizens and the disabled.  She serves on the Jackie Robinson Foundation scholarship selection committee. Hope served as the President of the Board of Directors for Bronx Children’s Museum from 2010 through 2021 and continues to serve on the Board.

Joe Lhota is Executive Vice President and Vice Dean of NYU Langone Health. From 2011−2012, Mr. Lhota served as Chairman and CEO of the MTA. From 2002 to 2010, he served as chief administrative officer at The Madison Square Garden Company as well as Cablevision Systems Corporation. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Lhota served as New York City Deputy Mayor for Operations. He was a leader of the core management team that developed and implemented the innovative strategies and initiatives that accomplished the successful “turn-around” of the city. As Deputy Mayor, he coordinated the city’s highly acclaimed response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.  Prior to serving as Deputy Mayor, he was the Director of the NYC Office of Management & Budget.

David Rothenberg’s life has centered on theater, social activism, politics, and a tireless focus on advocating for the lives of those impacted by the criminal justice system. In 1967, David Rothenberg produced a play called Fortune and Men’s Eyes that revealed the horrors of life in prison. This inspired him to establish The Fortune Society (Fortune). In its 50 years, Fortune has become one of the leading reentry service organizations in the country, serving nearly 7,000 formerly incarcerated individuals per year, providing a wide range of holistic services to meet their needs. Fortune has also secured a position as a leading advocate in the fight for criminal justice reform and alternatives to incarceration. In September of 1971, David Rothenberg was one of a small group of courageous civilian monitors brought in to Attica at the request of the incarcerated individuals who were fighting for their human rights – an incident that ended in tragedy, but showed the world the horrors of the criminal justice system in the United States.

He is a former member of the NYC Human Rights Commission and was appointed as Advisory Counsel to the NYS Commission on Human Rights in 1984. He has frequently testified about the criminal justice system before the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives – and in State and City governing bodies around the nation. With the help of Fortune participants, David created, wrote, and produced the play The Castle, which has been performed off-Broadway, on college campuses, and in prisons. David has been featured in various media publications, such as Democracy Now!, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and Newsday. His memoir Fortune in my Eyes was published in 2015. Now in his mid-80s, David continues to volunteer at Fortune every week, actively seeking out new ways to highlight the issues and needs of the formerly incarcerated through theater, art, advocacy, conversation, communications, and innovative programming.